The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Gibson named one of Top 30 honorees for 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award
09.17.2020 | Women's Swimming and Diving, T-Association, Student Services
Former Women’s Diving standout selected from a pool of 161 conference nominees.
AUSTIN, Texas — Former University of Texas women's diving star Alison Gibson has been named one of the Top 30 honorees for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, the Woman of the Year Selection Committee announced Thursday. Gibson and the other honorees advance to the next round in the selection process, where the committee will announce the nine finalists, including three women from each NCAA division, in mid-October.
From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year. The Top 30 honorees will be celebrated, and the NCAA Woman of the Year will be named this fall.
Selected from a record 605 school nominees, the group was narrowed to 161 by conference offices prior to the announcement of the Top 30 honorees. These 30 selections include 10 from each of the three NCAA divisions (I, II and III). All have demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.
The 2017 NCAA Champion on the one-meter board, Gibson was a six-time All-American and one-time honorable mention All-American during her four years with the Longhorns (2017-20). A four-time Big 12 Conference individual champion, she earned 2020 Big 12 Women's Diver of the Year honors and was the 2020 Co-Big 12 Women's Diver of the Meet. Gibson won the one-meter title (323.35) and placed second on the three-meter board (381.60) at the 2020 Big 12 Championship meet. She then won the three-meter title (687.15) and took second on the one-meter board (603.85) at the 2020 NCAA Zone D Championships prior to the NCAA Championship meet being canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gibson also represented Team USA at the 2017 and 2019 FINA World Championships, the 2018 FINA Diving World Cup and the 2017 World University Games. She placed second on the three-meter board (954.90) and on the three-meter synchronized springboard (594.27) at the 2019 USA Diving Winter Championships.
In the classroom, Gibson earned CoSIDA Academic All-America First-Team honors this past spring and received her bachelor's degree in Advertising in May. A three-time Academic All-Big 12 First-Team selection, she also claimed a NCAA Winter Sports Postgraduate Scholarship award and the Big 12 Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship. Gibson is currently enrolled as a graduate student at The University of Texas and is pursuing a master's degree in Advertising.
Gibson was a standout during her time on the Forty Acres in regards to community service and leadership. A three-year representative on UT's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), she served as SAAC President as a senior in 2019-20 and revised the group's mission statement, updated the bylaws, restructured committees and established a new executive board. Gibson also initiated the concept of a fund in partnership with Neighborhood Longhorns that will help support passionate athletes from less fortunate backgrounds. She was a four-year leader with the campus' Fellowship of Christian Athletes, served on the B4 Committee (working with UT faculty members to improve the relationship between faculty and athletes on campus), performed a one-year internship with the UT Athletics marketing department, and traveled to Costa Rica in the summer of 2018 to work with a non-profit organization called Soles for Souls that provided shoes to young children from poor areas of Costa Rica.
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